


Losing Our Minds

by SavingAcadia



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Byeler - Freeform, M/M, One Shot, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 19:22:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13841361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SavingAcadia/pseuds/SavingAcadia
Summary: When Will begins forgetting things, he finds himself face to face with a new monster that terrifies him more than any before. Alongside Mike, the two boys decide their only choice is to hunt the monster and kill it.Based on this prompt I was sent:"Byler prompt: the boys are trying to immitate their older siblings by lamely attempting to hunt a monster and spend the whole time trying to convince themselves they're not hopelessly in love (in the end they're happy and gay) they're also super bad at monster hunting but think they're great."*I primarily post on savingacadia.tumblr.com, but I like being complimented and it seems like there are more people on here, so tell me I'm good.





	Losing Our Minds

**Losing Our Minds (Byeler One-Shot)**  
_I remember the first morning I woke up and didn’t know where I was. The blood raced through my body like a torrent and I broke out into a violent cold sweat. The room was dark and the musty smell polluted every shaking breath. The sketches hung on the wall of horrific creatures made my blood run cold. I noticed my mouth hanging open as if I were going to say something. A name lingered at my trembling lips like a sweet aftertaste. My brain felt like it was being crushed in a vice grip. It was like my body was petrified with fear and yet my mind was slipping through my shivering fingers. Urgency banged at my ribcage with every shallow breath, begging me to flee, and still the fear couldn’t fill my fading thoughts. My mentality was failing so quickly it never even occurred to me to wonder why. I mindlessly stared at the yellow wall. Or was it blue? Was blue the color of leaves? As I struggled to remember exactly what a leaf was, I finally blacked out. That’s when I saw it._

_  
I woke up in the upside down, grasping at the ash shrouded ground as I gasped for a breath of toxic air. As I wheezed I felt a hot pain dripping down the back of my neck. I slowed brought my hand to my neck, sliding it across the slippery coat of blood until it hit something hard. A parasite with teeth like dull knives had sunk its mouthful of long fangs into my neck and latched onto my spine. My eyes grew wide with terror, stinging dryly in the poison air. I did the only thing I could think to do and sat up only to painful slam myself back to the ground. I felt the teeth of the creature tickling the sides of the holes it had pierced in my flesh as it pulled out of my muscles to let out a deafening screech of pain. Quickly, I pulled at the muscles of my abdomen and they burned from how out of shape I was, then I quickly threw myself down again, the heavy impact throbbing in my brain. The creature detached and I dizzily scrambled to my feet, flurries of dust puffing up from the ground in clouds. I spun around to examine the monster. It looked like a bug-eyed platypus with skin stretched so tight it could have been a fossil. Its ghastly head was much too large for its shriveled body and it was a pale ashy color aside from the ruby red blood that dripped down its horrific teeth and dribbled down its chin as it snarled at me. Suddenly I became aware of the crimson river flowing down my neck, and I only had so much time before I would faint and wake up back home in my room. How could I have forgotten my room? And the name I was going to call out. It was coming back to me._ Mike _. I spun around and sprinted with all the strength I could muster. I had to get away from this creature before there was nothing left of me but a body._

  
“We have to kill it,” Mike insisted, no sign of emotion on his motionless face. He turned to me with fire in his eyes, “We have to kill it before it kills you,” Mike elaborated as he crushed my icy fingers in his heated grip. My energy disappeared into weak fear as I imagined facing that deadly creature again, and a shiver ran down my spine at the memory of my life running down my back in lethal drops of scarlet.

  
Fat drops of salty water welled in my helpless eyes as I whispered to Mike, “You don’t know what it was like.” I blinked and the wet tears tickled my cheeks as they fled down my face. “I-” I shook my head, attempting to begin again, “I don’t think it was going to kill me.”

  
“What do you mean?” Mike asked gently as he moved his face closer to mine. I could smell the fresh minty toothpaste on his morning breath as the humidity of it prickled my face. I fluttered my eyes to clear my vision and he was so close I could see each individual pore in his face. I could have counted his freckles. I took a deep breath as I tried to think how to explain something I didn’t even understand.

  
“The Thought Eater,” came out of my mouth before I was even aware of it. My eyes widened in realization and my pulse rapidly began banging on my chest like a prisoner. The Thought Eater was a monster in Dungeons and Dragons. It fed on thoughts and its favorite snack was psionic abilities. Here I was, Will the wise with True Sight that allowed me to pass freely between the Upside Down and home, always existing in both but only aware in one. The Thought Eater was feeding on me from the Upside Down, even while I was in my room, sitting on my bed and talking to Mike.

  
The next thing I knew I was out on Mirkwood all alone. I couldn’t remember how I had gotten there or where I was supposed to be going. I felt skittish as my head flew around me, looking for a clue. I felt something on my back and my heart stopped. I couldn’t breathe as I jumped, startled by the sudden and unforeseen seen fear.

  
“Hey, you okay?” Mike asked, pulling me out of my panic as I turned to see my friend with his supportive hand on my back. His eyebrows pulled close together and his lips gaped just slightly as he looked at my ghastly face.

  
I shook my head as if to clear it. “Yeah,” I lied as my body began to calm. I walked down the street next to Mike, feeling as though my legs may buckle under me at any moment. “What are you wearing?” I laughed, trying to make light of the situation as I observed the cold of the oversized black leather jacket he wore. The sleeves came down too far, just past the heel of his hands, and it slumped over his shoulders like an old lazy cat.

  
“It’s leather,” Mike defended. “I thought it might be too thick for the Thought Eater.” He self-consciously pulled the sleeves over his palms.

  
I couldn’t help but laugh at his overzealous preparation for monster hunting. “You’re an idiot,” I teased, smiling up at the sharp angles of his face.

  
“Be positive,” Mike commanded, a small smile playing at the corner of his smooth young lips.

  
“Okay, I’m positive that you’re an idiot,” I replied, my face nearly in pain as my muscles stretched around the huge grin of pride on my face. To my delight, Mike’s eyes lit up like candles at night as he laughed with me.

  
In a blink, I was standing in the middle of a clearing I didn’t recognize. The grass below my feet was dead. Mike calmly marched around the circumference with a rusty tin of petrol, dumping copious amounts of fuel on the ground. Once he had emptied the entire gallon he carelessly tossed the prism container out into the trees, clapping his hands against each other like erasers as he stumbled over the uneven ground and approached me. I could smell the gasoline on his hands and laced in his clothing and hair as he grabbed my shoulders and asked, “Do you remember the plan?” The gasoline made me feel woozy as I drowsily looked up at Mike’s determined expression.

  
I wasn’t even sure what I told him as the next moment he was violently holding me from behind and holding an old wet handkerchief over my mouth and nose. A sickly sweet smell polluted my senses and I felt like my body was shutting down and I desperately grabbed at Mike’s strong arms to pull them away. My muscles grew weak and I no longer felt the ability to fight back. I dropped my aching arms and Mike carefully laid my tired body on the ground, continuing to hold the soaked rag to my face. I timidly looked up into Mike’s eyes where his dark brown curls began to droop into his face, terrified and unsure why he was doing this. Worse I had the undeniable feeling like I had forgotten something. Something important.

  
I opened my eyes, wide awake, and there was that feeling again, like my thoughts were just slipping away. I didn’t stop to think why the sky had grown so dark or what this place was that I had woken up in where ash and decay were the norm. I grew distracted by a grey flake floating past my face. I felt cold and numb. Or was it hot? What was hot again? I began to sneeze. That was the thing where your lungs burn, right? I couldn’t see because the air was too thick to inhale, and I fell to my elbows of my legs becoming a mindless shell of what was once William Byers.

  
I gasped in the smoky air, sitting up quickly. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead from the heat of the fire surrounding me. I looked out and saw the black silhouette of my messiah against the raging tall flames of glowing orange. I uncontrollably coughed again as the black smoke swirled in my lungs. The dark figure walked toward me and I couldn’t help feeling I had forgotten something important. My face became wet as the features of the boy came into my view. Why was my face wet? Why did my stomach flip as he came nearer? Was he dangerous? The tension in his set jaw and his furious eyes terrified me. I tried to back away, flailing my hands and feet to push my body away, but I was trapped in this ring of fire. He grabbed my shoulder with painful force and flipped open a shiny pocket knife as he rounded my back. I winced as I prepared for him to murder me and was horrified when deafening shriek rang in my ears, vibrating my brain to the point I thought I would explode.

  
I felt the hot blood racing down my back as the creature released me and scurried into the center of the burning circled with a knife sticking out of its back. My eyes widened as my consciousness came flooding back. I was paralyzed on the ground with fear, knowing that parasite had consumed my mind and nearly erased me. I brought it here. This was the plan. Mike put me under so I could let it hunt me, latch onto me, and when I woke up we would trap it in a ring of fire, and kill it. I pushed myself to my feet with my sore limbs and stood next to Mike to face the creature of nightmares. It limped where the knife stuck through its boney figure as it cautiously backed away from the two of us. It snarled, blood raining off its bill into a pool on the ground as we began moving to opposite sides to corner it. Panicked, the Thought Eater charged at Mike. It leapt into his face and I was powerless to stop as his feet came out from under him and he landed on his back, wincing in pain as he struggled to hold the gnarling monster at bay. I pounded my feet into the trodden ground trying to get to him, sweat from the heat pouring down my face in drops and matting my hair to my sticky forehead. I watched on helplessly as the terror opened its big bill and sank its enormous teeth into Mike’s neck. I pushed on faster, the taste of copper bleeding into the back of my throat. My lungs felt like they were being pricked by a thousand needles and I couldn’t breathe, and still I pushed forward. I got to the scene and realized I didn’t have any weapons; I didn’t know what to do. I hopelessly watched it feeding on Mike’s thoughts. He looked at me like he didn’t know me and I shattered. I angrily grabbed the handle of the knife and ripped it out of the Thought Eater’s back. It didn’t bleed. The creature was completely lifeless inside. I screamed as I jammed the knife into the back of its titanic head and it immediately released Mike to screech out in pain. I pulled up on the knife, carrying the parasite by the blade where it was impaired, and mindlessly held it out into the wall of fire. The Thought Eater’s shrill shrieking as it burned brought tears to my eyes and the scent of its burning flesh was nauseating. The metal handle of the knife began to heat up and it was burning the palm of my hand, and still I refused to stop until I was sure it was dead. The creature finally silenced and I watched the last traces of its shriveled skin drip off the cartoonish skull that hung from the knife. Finally, I screamed and dropped the remnants into the fire, falling to my knee’s and gripping my wrist as I examined my blistering hand.

  
“Mike?” I called out. The adrenaline had finally melted away with the monster and I was left with the horror of everything I had been through in the last 24 hours. “Mike!” I yelled out desperately. Did it kill him? I moved to look around me to try to see where he was when a tall figure walked around from behind me and knelt down before me. I looked up into his deep brown eyes where the reflection of the fire burned and lost it. I began sobbing as I rammed my head into his hard chest and he wrapped his leather-clad arms around me. I cradled my burnt hand between us as I swung the other around his waist to grip at a fistful of the dark tee shirt he wore under his jacket.

  
“Shhh,” Mike hushed as he pushed the wet hair out of my face and cradled my head to his chest. “It’s all over now.” I could tell he was just as scared as I was, but Mike would always channel his emotions into his caring actions. Mike’s slender fingers traced down my jaw until they found my damp chin and he tilted my face slightly upward. Carefully he placed a gentle kiss on my sweaty forehead before pulling my entire body closer to his. Our chests collided and I slowed my breathing to meet his. The front of his shirt grew damp in the excruciating heat of the fire and all I could smell was authentic Mike. It intoxicated my thoughts and calmed me more with every inhale.

  
“Mike?” I asked, finally looking up at him. A bead of sweat was sliding down his cheekbones like it was a waterfall and the curls on his forehead were pasted to his face. The rest of his dark mop was disheveled and tangled. He looked up at me with soft expectation. “We’re not very good at this, are we?”

  
“What makes you say that?” He questioned.

  
“Well did you bring anything to put out the fire?” I quizzed. Realization passed over his face when he understood that we had trapped ourselves until the fuel burned out. Wordlessly he pushed off the heavy leather jacket, tossing it to the side. He never took his rich eyes away from mine as he began to pull the drenched black tee shirt over his head, inch by inch revealing the tight pale skin of his flat stomach underneath. Mike sat up on his knees so that he towered over me, scooting himself so close I could feel his hot breath drying the moist sweat on my face. My air hitched in my throat as he placed his hands on my shoulders and began pushing off the blue flannel I wore, his face grew so close that our wet foreheads were stuck together as he pulled the sleeves off my sticky wrists. Our mouths were so close I could feel Mike breathing me to life in every inhale. His hands grabbed the hem of my white tee shirt and I felt the electricity pulse through me as his fingers brushed the bare skin of my hips. He began sliding the fabric up my sides, vitalizing my senses with elation. I lifted my arms into the air so he could pull the damp tee shirt over my head. As Mike tossed the shirt aside, I noticed that the back had been stained crimson with blood and a shiver ran down my spine. Mike laid down on his side, pulling me by the hand to join him. Timidly, I turned myself over on the dead grass next to him. I felt Mike’s hot sticky chest press up against my back as he wrapped a protective arm around my stomach. It was excruciatingly hot and our sweat was pooling at every point of contact, yet I felt calm. My exhaustion from the day was beginning to make my eyes droop with drowsy weight. 

  
I woke up shivering. I was freezing and understood why when I opened my eyes to the black night. The fire was gone and the only light came from the bright moon and the stars littered across the cool night sky. I turned over in Mike’s arms to find that he was still comfortably asleep. His delicate eyes and his soft lips looked so fragile under the deep blue sky. His chest was coated with dried blood from the back of my neck where the Thought Eater had latched on. He looked so beautiful.


End file.
